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| EMD GP9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_(cropped).jpg) ABelton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad EMD GP9 inBelton, Missouri, in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheEMD GP9 is a four-axlediesel-electric locomotive built byGeneral Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1963. The GP9 succeeded theGP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line,[1] incorporating a new sixteen-cylinder engine which generated 1,750horsepower (1.30 MW).[2] This locomotive type was offered both with and without control cabs; locomotives built without control cabs were calledGP9B locomotives. The GP9 was succeeded by the similar but slightly more powerfulGP18.[3]
EMD designed the GP9 as an improved version of the GP7, with an increase in power from 1,500 hp to 1,750 hp, and a change in prime mover to the latest version of the567 engine, the 567C.[3] Externally, the GP9 strongly resembled its predecessor. Most were built with high short hoods, but theSouthern Pacific ordered a number with low short hoods for improved crew visibility.[3]
EMD built GP9s at its LaGrange, Illinois facility until 1959, when American production was ended in favor of the GP18.[3] GMD production in Canada continued until August 1963, when the final GP9 was produced.[4]
EMD produced 4,257 GP9 locomotives, including 165 B units. 646 of the locomotives, intended for Canadian railroads, were built byGeneral Motors Diesel, EMD's Canadian subsidiary.[4] Approximately 75 railroads purchased GP9s. Major customers included theChesapeake and Ohio Railway (363),[5]Illinois Central Railroad (348),[6]Union Pacific Railroad (345, including 125 B units),[7]Canadian National Railway (339),[8]Pennsylvania Railroad (310, including 40 B units),[9]Norfolk and Western Railway (306),Southern Pacific Railroad (253),[10] andCanadian Pacific Railway (200).[11]
There were 40 GP9M units built that are included in the 3,441 units built for United States railroads. A GP9M was built with parts from another older EMD locomotive, either anF unit or a damaged GP7. The use of parts from these older locomotives caused the GP9Ms to have a lower power rating than a GP9. This would be either 1,350 horsepower (1.01 MW) if the donor locomotive was anFT/F2 or 1,500 horsepower (1.12 MW) fromF3/F7/GP7 locomotives.
Many rebuilt GP9s remain in service today with shortline railroads and industrial operators. Some remain in rebuilt form on some majorClass I railroads, as switcher locomotives although most Class 1 railroads stopped using these locomotives by the 1980s.Canadian National still had 29[12] GP9RM locomotives in operation, as of 2022.Canadian Pacific had many GP9u locomotives in operation; however, they were all retired in 2015.
Several GP9s were rebuilt with a 1,500 horsepower (1.12 MW)CAT 3512 and re-classified asGP15C.
The Illinois Central Railroad rebuilt some of its GP9s with their front (short) hood reduced in height for improved crew visibility. The IC designated these rebuilt locomotivesGP10.[13]
Conrail (CR) would also rebuild former Penn Central (PC) GP9s into GP10s
EMD has rebuilt and continues to rebuild GP9s into what it calls theGP20C-ECO, which is repowered with an EMD 8-710-G3A engine in place of the original 567 prime mover.[14]
Between April 1970 and March 1979, theSt. Louis Southwestern Railway (also known as the "Cotton Belt Route") and theSouthern Pacific Transportation Company had rebuilt the majority of their EMD GP9 locomotives intoSP GP9E and GP9R locomotives.
The Canadian National Railway (CN) rebuilt locomotives into GP9RM, with the "RM" denoting for "Remanufactured", the first batch of 37 GP9s were rebuilt between 1981 and 1984, and were numbered as 4000 through 4036, the second batch of 44 GP9s were rebuilt in two periods, with the first 17 being rebuilt in 1984, and the remaining 27 being rebuilt between 1989 and 1991, all of which were numbered 4100 through 4143, the third batch of 84 GP9s being rebuilt in two periods, with the first 14 being rebuilt in 1985, and the remaining 70 GP9s being rebuilt between 1991 and 1993, all of which were numbered 7000 through 7083, and there was the fourth batch of 81 GP9s divided into three periods, with the first 49 being rebuilt between 1985 and 1988, the second 22 being rebuilt in 1990, and the remaining 10 being rebuilt between 1993 and 1994, all of which were numbered 7200 through 7280.[15]
At least 23 GP9 locomotives have been preserved at various railroad museums, as "park engines", and as excursion engines according to The Diesel Shop:[16]
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